Display device having repair and detect structure

ABSTRACT

A display device having repair and detect structure includes a substrate, a pixel array, a first shorting bar and a first repair line. The pixel array disposed on the substrate includes a plurality of data lines and a plurality of gate lines. The first shorting bar disposed on the substrate is connected to the gate lines for testing the gate lines, and the first shorting bar includes a first shorting segment. The first repair line is disposed on the substrate for repairing at least one of the data lines. The first shorting segment of the first shorting bar is electrically connected to the first repair line. Furthermore, another repair and detect structure of a display device is disclosed, wherein the first shorting bar includes a first shorting segment, the first repair line includes a first repair segment, and the first shorting segment overlaps with the first repair segment.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention is related to a display device having repair anddetect structure, and more particularly, to a display device havingrepair and detect structure in which a first shorting segment of thefirst shorting bar is electrically connected to a first repair line,furthermore, or a first repair segment of the first repair line overlapswith a first shorting segment of a first shorting bar.

2. Description of the Prior Art

Please refer to FIG. 1. FIG. 1 illustrates a schematic diagram of aconventional display device having repair and detect structure. As shownin FIG. 1, the display device having repair and detect structurecomprises a substrate 100, a pixel array PA, a first shorting bar SB1, asecond shorting bar SB2, a first repair line RL1, a second repair lineRL2, a gate driver chip 30 and a source driver chip 40. The pixel arrayPA comprises a plurality of data lines DL and a plurality of gate linesGL, the gate driver chip 30 is electrically connected to the gate linesGL for providing gate signals, and the source driver chip 40 iselectrically connected to the data lines DL for providing sourcesignals.

To maintain the qualities of the display devices, the display devicesneed testing during the manufacturing process to eliminate defectiveproductions. As illustrated in FIG. 1, the first shorting bar SB1 iselectrically connected to a probing pad GO and to odd gate lines GL, thesecond shorting bar SB2 is electrically connected to a probing pad GEand to even gate lines GL. In other words, it is necessary for thedisplay device to dispose the first shorting bar SB1 and the secondshorting bar SB2 to test the plurality of gate lines GL. Further, due tothe influences of the rough surface of substrate 100, thermal processand etching process, the data lines DL tend to have broken line, whichwould induce open circuit. To prevent the adverse effects of broken lineupon the operation of display devices, it is necessary to dispose repairlines on the substrate 100, as the first repair line RL1 and the secondrepair line RL2 in FIG. 1. In addition, when the display area of displaydevice is enlarged and when the resolution is elevated, more data linesare required and the width of line gets narrower, which increasesprocess difficulty. Therefore, more repair lines are demanded as well.

However, conducting lines such as the first shorting bar SB1, the secondshorting bar SB2, the first repair line RL1, the second repair line RL2,and other repair lines (not shown), are all required to be disposed inthe peripheral region of the pixel array PA. In the circumstance oflimited space of the peripheral region, the number of repair linesdisposed and the line width is restricted, which makes it difficult toreduce the resistances of the conducting lines, and unfavorable to theprogress of repairing and detecting. Accordingly, the conventionaldevice suffers the problems of insufficient space for repair lines andthe higher resistance.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is therefore one of the objectives of the present invention toprovide a display device having repair and detect structure to solve theproblems of insufficient space for repair lines and the higherresistance in the conventional display device.

An exemplary embodiment of the display device having repair and detectstructure of the present invention comprises a substrate, a pixel array,a first shorting bar and a first repair line. The pixel array disposedon the substrate comprises a plurality of data lines and a plurality ofgate lines. The first shorting bar disposed on the substrate isconnected to the gate lines for testing the gate lines, and the firstshorting bar comprises a first shorting segment. The first repair lineis disposed on the substrate for repairing at least one of the datalines. And the first shorting segment of the first shorting bar iselectrically connected to the first repair line.

Another exemplary embodiment of the display device having repair anddetect structure of the present invention comprises a substrate, a pixelarray, a first shorting bar, a first repair line and an isolation layer.The pixel array disposed on the substrate comprises a plurality of datalines and a plurality of gate lines. The first shorting bar disposed onthe substrate is connected to the gate lines for testing the gate lines,and the first shorting bar comprises a first shorting segment placedalong a first direction. The first repair line disposed on the substrateis for repairing at least one of the data lines, and the first repairline comprises a first repair segment placed along the first direction.Further, the first repair segment overlaps with the first shortingsegment and an isolation layer is placed between the first repairsegment and the first shorting segment.

To decrease the number of conducting lines, the display device havingrepair and detect structure in the present invention utilizes a firstshorting segment electrically connected to the first repair line tocombine the first repair line and the first shorting bar. Further, thedisplay device having repair and detect structure in the presentinvention utilizes the first repair segment of the first repair lineoverlapping with the first shorting segment of the first shorting bar.Consequently, the first repair segment shares the same region of thesubstrate with the first shorting segment, and the area of the substrateis utilized more effectively.

These and other objectives of the present invention will no doubt becomeobvious to those of ordinary skill in the art after reading thefollowing detailed description of the preferred embodiment that isillustrated in the various figures and drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 illustrates a schematic diagram of a conventional display devicehaving repair and detect structure.

FIG. 2 illustrates a schematic diagram of a display device having repairand detect structure according to a first exemplary embodiment of thepresent invention.

FIG. 3 illustrates a schematic diagram of a display device having repairand detect structure according to a second exemplary embodiment of thepresent invention.

FIG. 4-FIG. 5 illustrate schematic diagrams of a display device havingrepair and detect structure according to a third exemplary embodiment ofthe present invention.

FIG. 6-FIG. 8 illustrate schematic diagrams of a display device havingrepair and detect structure according to a fourth exemplary embodimentof the present invention.

FIG. 9-FIG. 10 illustrate schematic diagrams of a display device havingrepair and detect structure according to a fifth exemplary embodiment ofthe present invention

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Certain terms are used throughout the following descriptions and claimsto refer to particular components. As one skilled in the art willappreciate, manufacturers may refer to a component by different names.This document does not intend to distinguish between components thatdiffer in name but in function. In the following discussion and in theclaims, the terms “include” and “comprise” are used in an open-endedfashion, and thus should be interpreted to mean “including, but notlimited to . . . ”. In addition, the term “electrically connected”includes any directly or indirectly electrical connection methods.Therefore, if the description in the following paragraphs is that afirst device is electrically connected to a second device, theaforementioned words stand for that the first device can be electricallyconnected to the second device directly or be electrically connected tothe second device indirectly by means of other devices or electricalconnection methods. Furthermore, the diagrams are meant to explain theinvention, but not based on the original scale.

Please refer to FIG. 2. FIG. 2 illustrates a schematic diagram of adisplay device having repair and detect structure 300 according to afirst exemplary embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 2,the display device having repair and detect structure 300 at leastcomprises a substrate 200, a pixel array PA, a first shorting bar 11 anda first repair line 21. The pixel array PA disposed on the substrate 200comprises a plurality of data lines DL and a plurality of gate lines GL.For simplification, only a portion of data lines DL and gate lines GL isdiagramed and the corresponding pixels are not sketched in the diagramrealistically. The data lines DL and the gate lines GL are substantiallydisposed perpendicularly to each other. Further, at least a gate driverchip 30 and at least a source driver chip 40 are disposed on thesubstrate 200. The gate driver chip 30 is electrically connected to thegate lines GL for providing gate signals, and the source driver chip 40is electrically connected to the data lines DL for providing sourcesignals. In addition, the substrate 200 comprises a first peripheralregion 201 and a second peripheral region 202 defined outside the pixelarray PA, the first peripheral region 201 is arranged parallel to thegate lines GL, and the second peripheral region 202 is arranged parallelto the data lines DL. More clearly, the first peripheral region 201 isdisposed on the opposite side of the pixel array PA with respect to thesource driver chip 40 (reverse S side), and the second peripheral region202 is disposed on the opposite side of the pixel array PA with respectto gate driver chip 30 (reverse G side).

Furthermore, the first shorting bar 11 disposed on the substrate 200 isconnected to the gate lines GL for testing the gate lines GL, and thefirst shorting bar 11 comprises a first shorting segment 111. In thisembodiment, the first shorting bar 11 is electrically connected to theprobing pad GO for testing odd gate lines GL, but not limited thereto.The first repair line 21 is disposed on the substrate 200 for repairingat least one of the data lines DL with broken line. And the firstshorting segment 111 of the first shorting bar 11 is electricallyconnected to the first repair line 21. In the first exemplaryembodiment, the first shorting segment 111 is disposed in both the firstperipheral region 201 and the second peripheral region 202, but notlimited thereto. For example, the first shorting segment 111 could onlybe disposed in the first peripheral region 201 and electricallyconnected to the first repair line 21. In other words, the firstshorting segment 111 is allowed to be disposed only in the firstperipheral region 201, or in both in the first peripheral region 201 andin the second peripheral region 202.

In the first exemplary embodiment, the first shorting segment 111 in thefirst peripheral region 201 and the second peripheral region 202combines the repair line and the shorting bar, which are disposedseparately in conventional device, so that the number of conductinglines can be decreased. Further, the functions of the first shorting bar11 and the first repair line 21 are still kept. As shown in FIG. 2, toperform the function of testing, the first shorting segment 111 of thefirst shorting bar 11 is electrically connected to the probing pad GOfor testing the odd gate lines GL. Moreover, the first shorting segment111 electrically connected to the first repair line 21 crosses over oneend of data lines DL, and the electrical circuits in source driver chip40 (not shown in FIG. 2) electrically connected to the first repair line21 passes through the other end of data lines DL. As a result, when abroken line occurs to one of the data lines DL, the first repair line 21is able to provide another substitutional electrical access forrepairing the broken data line DL.

In FIG. 2, the display device having repair and detect structure 300further comprises a second shorting bar 12 and a second repair line 22,both disposed on the substrate 200. The second repair line 22 is used torepair at least one of the data lines DL with broken line, and thesecond shorting bar 12 comprises a second shorting segment 121. Thesecond shorting bar 12 is electrically connected to the probing pad GEfor testing even gate lines GL, but not limited thereto. The secondshorting segment 121 of the second shorting bar 12 is electricallyconnected to the second repair line 22, and the second shorting segment121 is located in the first peripheral region 201.

Accordingly, in the first exemplary embodiment, the first shortingsegment 111 and the second shorting segment 121 are utilized to completethe combination of the first repair line 21 and the first shorting bar11 and the combination of the second repair line 22 and the secondshorting bar 12 respectively for decreasing two of the conducting linesin the first peripheral region 201. In the same way, the combination ofthe first repair line 21 and the first shorting bar 11 decreases one ofthe conducting lines in the second peripheral region 202. The decreaseof the number of conducting lines allows to enlarge the width ofconducting lines, reducing the resistances of the first repair line 21and the second repair line 22, which benefits the repair progress.Therefore, the present invention solves the problems of insufficientspace for repair lines and the higher resistance in conventional displaydevice without additional cost of photo mask. Additionally, a repairline branch 50 may be further disposed in the first peripheral region201, where one end of the repair line branch 50 is electricallyconnected to the first repair line 21 via the first shorting segment111, and the other end of the repair line branch 50 is electricallyconnected to the second repair line 22 via the second shorting segment121.

The display device having repair and detect structure 300 of the presentinvention is not limited to the first exemplary embodiment. To simplifythe explanation and to clarify the comparison, the same components aredenoted by the same numerals in the following four exemplaryembodiments. Please refer to FIG. 3. FIG. 3 illustrates a schematicdiagram of a display device having repair and detect structure 300according to a second exemplary embodiment of the present invention. Asshown in FIG. 3, the major difference between the first exemplaryembodiment and the second exemplary embodiment is that the secondshorting segment 121 is disposed in the second peripheral region 202.More specifically, the second repair line 22 is disposed adjacent to thesecond peripheral region 202 in the second exemplary embodiment, and thesecond shorting segment 121 disposed in the first peripheral region 201is electrically connected to the second repair line 22. Accordingly, inthe second exemplary embodiment, by disposing the first shorting segment111 and the second shorting segment 121, the first repair line 21 andthe first shorting bar 11 are merged, and the second repair line 22 andthe second shorting bar 12 are merged in both of the first peripheralregion 201 and the second peripheral region 202. Consequently, two ofthe conducting lines in both of the first peripheral region 201 and thesecond peripheral region 202 can be omitted. In other words, compared tothe first exemplary embodiment, the second exemplary embodimentdecreases more conducting lines in the second peripheral region 202.

Please refer to FIG. 4-FIG. 5. FIG. 4 illustrates a schematic diagram ofa display device having repair and detect structure 300 according to athird exemplary embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 5illustrates a cross-sectional view of the display device having repairand detect structure 300 along the line segment A-A′ of FIG. 4. Themajor difference between the third exemplary embodiment and the priortwo exemplary embodiments is that, the first repair line 21 is notelectrically connected to the first shorting segment 111, and the secondrepair line 22 is not electrically connected to the second shortingsegment 121. Instead, the problem of insufficient space in theconventional device is resolved by overlapping the conducting lines. Asshown in FIG. 4, the first repair line 21 comprises a first repairsegment 211 placed along a first direction D1. As shown in FIG. 4-FIG.5, the first shorting bar 11 comprises the first shorting segment 111placed along the first direction D1, and the first repair segment 211overlaps with the first shorting segment 111 in the first peripheralregion 201. The first shorting segment 111 is overlapped by the firstrepair segment 211, which is clearly illustrated in FIG. 5. Further, anisolation layer 60 is placed between the first repair segment 211 andthe first shorting segment 111 for electrically isolating the firstrepair segment 211 from the first shorting segment 111.

As shown in FIG. 4-FIG. 5, similarly, the second repair line 22comprises a second repair segment 221 placed along a first direction D1,the second shorting bar 12 comprises the second shorting segment 121placed along the first direction D1, and the second repair segment 221overlaps with the second shorting segment 121 in the first peripheralregion 201. Further, an isolation layer 60 is placed between the secondrepair segment 221 and the second shorting segment 121 for electricallyisolating the second repair segment 221 from the second shorting segment121.

Accordingly, the third exemplary embodiment of the present inventionoverlaps the first repair segment 211 with the first shorting segment111 in the first peripheral region 201, such that the first repairsegment 211 shares the same region of the substrate 200 with the firstshorting segment 111 to more effectively use the area of the substrate200. Identically, the second repair segment 221 overlaps with the secondshorting segment 121 in the first peripheral region 201. The secondrepair segment 221 shares the same region of the substrate 200 with thesecond shorting segment 121 in the first peripheral region 201 to moreeffectively use of the area of the substrate 200. Moreover, as the areaof the substrate 200 is more effectively utilized, the width ofconducting lines can be enlarged, lowering the resistances of the firstrepair line 21 and the second repair line 22, which is beneficial to therepair progress. Therefore, the present invention can solve the problemsof insufficient space for repair lines and the higher resistance inconventional device without additional cost of photo mask.

Please refer to FIG. 6-FIG. 8. FIG. 6 illustrates a schematic diagram ofa display device having repair and detect structure 300 according to afourth exemplary embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 7 illustratesa cross-sectional view of the display device having repair and detectstructure 300 along the line segment A-A′ of FIG. 6, and FIG. 8illustrates two cross-sectional views of the display device havingrepair and detect structure 300 along the line segment B-B′ and C-C′ ofFIG. 6 respectively. The major difference between the fourth exemplaryembodiment and the third exemplary embodiments is that the first repairsegment 211 overlaps with the first shorting segment 111 additionally inthe second peripheral region 202 in the fourth exemplary embodiment. Asshown in FIG. 6-FIG. 8, the first repair segment 211 overlaps with thefirst shorting segment 111, and the isolation layer 60 is placed betweenthe first repair segment 211 and the first shorting segment 111 forelectrically isolating the first repair segment 211 from the firstshorting segment 111. The first repair segment 211 overlaps with thefirst shorting segment 111 in the second peripheral region 202 as shownin the B-B′ cross-sectional view of FIG. 8. In addition, the firstrepair segment 211 overlaps with the first shorting segment 111 in theinterval between the second peripheral region 202 and the source driverchip 40 as shown in the C-C′ cross-sectional view of FIG. 8. Also, asshown in FIG. 6 and FIG. 7, the disposition in the first peripheralregion 201 of the fourth exemplary embodiment is the same as that of thethird exemplary embodiment. Accordingly, the fourth exemplary embodimentof the present invention overlaps the first repair segment 211 with thefirst shorting segment 111 in both the first peripheral region 201 andthe second peripheral region 202. That is to say, compared to the thirdexemplary embodiment, the area of the second peripheral region 202 ismore effectively used in the fourth exemplary embodiment.

Please refer to FIG. 9-FIG. 10. FIG. 9 illustrates a schematic diagramof a display device having repair and detect structure 300 according toa fifth exemplary embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 10illustrates cross-sectional views along the line segments A-A′, B-B′ andC-C′ of FIG. 9. As shown in FIG. 9-FIG. 10, the major difference betweenthe fifth exemplary embodiment and the forth exemplary embodiments isthat the second repair segment 221 overlaps with the second shortingsegment 121 in the second peripheral region 202 additionally in thefifth exemplary embodiment. The second shorting segment 121 is coveredwith the second repair segment 221. And the cross-sectional view alongthe line segment C-C′ of FIG. 10 illustrates that the second repairsegment 221 overlaps with the second shorting segment 121 in theinterval between the second peripheral region 202 and the source driverchip 40. Accordingly, the fifth exemplary embodiment of the presentinvention not only overlaps the first repair segment 211 with the firstshorting segment 111 in the second peripheral region 202, but alsooverlaps the second repair segment 221 with the second shorting segment121 in the second peripheral region 202. That is to say, compared to thefourth exemplary embodiment, the area of the second peripheral region202 is more effectively used in the fifth exemplary embodiment.

In conclusion, the display device having repair and detect structure inthe present invention electrically connects the first shorting segmentof the first shorting bar to the first repair line for the combinationof the first repair line and the first shorting bar, such that thenumber of conducting lines is reduced. Moreover, the first shortingsegment may be disposed in the first peripheral region and the secondperipheral region as well. On the other hand, the display device havingrepair and detect structure in the present invention overlaps the firstrepair segment of the first repair line with the first shorting segmentof the first shorting bar, so that the first repair segment shares thesame region of the substrate as the first shorting bar to moreeffectively use the substrate area. Similarly, the first repair segmentmay overlap with the first shorting segment in the first peripheralregion and the second peripheral region as well. In addition, thedecrease of the number of conducting lines allows the increase of thewidths of the first repair line and the second repair line, whichtherefore diminishes the resistances of the first repair line and thesecond repair line, and facilitates the repair progress. Consequently,the present invention can solve the problems of insufficient space forrepair lines and the higher resistance without additional cost of thephoto mask.

Those skilled in the art will readily observe that numerousmodifications and alterations of the device and method may be made whileretaining the teachings of the invention.

What is claimed is:
 1. A display device having repair and detectstructure, comprising: a substrate; a pixel array disposed on thesubstrate, the pixel array comprising a plurality of data lines and aplurality of gate lines, wherein the substrate comprises a firstperipheral region and a second peripheral region defined outside thepixel array, the first peripheral region is arranged parallel to thegate lines, and the second peripheral region is arranged parallel to thedata lines; a first shorting bar disposed on the substrate, the firstshorting bar being connected to the gate lines for testing the gatelines, and the first shorting bar comprising a first shorting segment,wherein the first shorting segment is disposed in the first peripheralregion; a first repair line disposed on the substrate for repairing atleast one of the data lines, the first repair line being electricallyconnected to the first shorting segment of the first shorting bar; asecond shorting bar and a second repair line disposed on the substrate,wherein the second shorting bar comprises a second shorting segmentelectrically connected to the second repair line, and the secondshorting segment is disposed in the first peripheral region; and arepair line branch disposed in the first peripheral region, wherein oneend of the repair line branch is electrically connected to the firstrepair line via the first shorting segment, and the other end of therepair line branch is electrically connected to the second repair linevia the second shorting segment.
 2. The display device having repair anddetect structure of claim 1, wherein the first shorting segment isfurther disposed in the second peripheral region.
 3. The display devicehaving repair and detect structure of claim 1, wherein the secondshorting segment is further disposed in the second peripheral region.